Need help with your Goan wedding invitation card? Read this!

Need help with your Goan wedding invitation card? Read this!

When you decide to get married in Goa and make all the preparations towards the wedding, you wish that everyone you wanted to attend your wedding would easily know about your wedding details, the date, the time, the venue etc. What better way to do that then compose these details into the wedding invitation card? While in another article on this website, I have touched on the idea of the wedding website as a modern tool for advanced communication and to provide quick updates about a wedding, the basic age old practice of the wedding invitation card is probably still the most easiest and most effective means of informing your guests about the details of your wedding upfront with the all-too-powerful personal touch. So what goes into the making of a Goan wedding invitation card? Let us look at the probabilities.

Basics of a Goa wedding invitation cardThe basic information about a Goan wedding invitation card is all too obvious. It should give enough info about the who, what, when and where of the event. A wedding invitation will also include the names of the parents and the date, time and location to follow. So essentially, the wedding invitation is your wedding ceremony plan for all to know. It is intended to provide your guests a summarized information about who is getting married, whose children they are, where do they hail from, when are they getting married, what is the time of the nuptials, where are the nuptials in Goa? Where is the wedding reception venue in Goa? What time is the reception scheduled? Is there an RSVP insertion?

Additionally, you will notice many Goan wedding cards opening with a couple of lines of poetry that may reflect what the bridal couple feel about each other. It may also or may be a statement of their belief or a famous quote if it is fitting to their wedding theme or simply a gush of love. The card will most likely also reflect the theme colours chosen by the bridal coupe for their Goan wedding celebration. As such, you might find a picture of a bridal couple with shades of the theme colour on the edges of the card, or on the basic structure of the card itself. It may also be reflected in flowers or bow tied ribbons sporting those colors or even the text radiating the colour of the wedding theme.

Shapes and GraphicsThe Goan wedding card could be lined with hearts or be in a heart shape itself. Most cards are rectangular in their overall shape while you will also see some of the square shaped cards standing out. Wedding invitation cards in Goa have a variety of graphics and there is no dearth of ideas. While the wedding couple in all sizes , forms and shapes may be the most popular on wedding cards, you will find other things as well. Wedding cards in Goa might have ribbons and fine glitter, doves or birds, stars and bells, bouquets and cupids, chariots or cinderallas’ lost shoes, love boats or couples in a warm embrace, wedding trains or flowery ferns, decorative grills or fine lace, antique cars with wedding couple, interlocked wedding rings or wedding hats or pecking swans…………………….. the imaginations have been limitless.
There is often the flavor of the season also reflecting on the wedding card with the Christmas season being quite loud on many a Goan wedding card. So it is not uncommon to see glimpses of Santa or the Christmas bunting on the Goa wedding card of many a couple deciding to tie the knot around Christmas time.
Then in some wedding cards there are unique opening styles from the envelope to reach to the card. Some slide from left to right. others may have to be pulled from above or some others may just pop out as you open the envelope. Many people love the unique touch to their wedding card in terms of type of card material etc. I have seen many wedding cards in the form of a scroll tied with a picturesque ribbon, the colour of the wedding theme. While many opt for hand made paper for wedding cards there have been quite a few to my attention which have been printed even on cloth material.

When it comes to the names of the bridal couple, some choose the names by which they are popularly known. Some others go by the full name given to them at birth. So whether you choose to use your popular name or your original name or even your full name with all the additional middle and tall Goan names within it, is an all too individual choice.

In modern Goa, there are many different ways to phrase your wedding invitation card and it would largely depend on who is portrayed to be hosting the event and also your own comforts of proposing the phrasing, whether you are having a traditional church wedding or a more informal event. Since in Goa most weddings are church weddings you may choose to stick to a more formal tone for your big white wedding. It is a good idea to take a good look at some invitation cards and the wordings used there as a guide to write your very own personal invitation card.

If the bridal couple is addressing the invitation to the guest their names will appear first and the names of their parents will be below their own. Some wedding cards have the parents addressing the invitation and so i names would appear at the top and then the names of the to be wedded couple would figure down. In another separate article I will write the different styles and wordings used for wedding cards. However here down under I am only writing a sample invitation card for you to get a brief idea.

The InvitationIf the parents are addressing it would read something likeExample: Mr & Mrs Eurico Barreto

Or with their fuller names likeExample: Mr Eurico and Therese Barreto

If the parents from both sides are to be mentioned then you would use both their names , either surnames or full names like

If the bridal couple is portrayed as the host themselves then they would print their own names and it would be something like

Example. We,

Brendan Barreto and Laura Menezes

Or just their first names

Example. We,

Brendan and Laura

This would most likely be followed by

“together with our parents” or “along with our parents” or “together with our families”

Also if the parents have not addressed the invitation, below each respective name of thebride and the groom on the left hand side and the right hand side you would have the names of the parents in brackets. It would look something like

Sometimes, in Goa, the maiden surnames of mothers may be mentioned depending upon the preferences. Also if the parent is deceased, the name would precede with the word “late” to imply that that particular parent is not living.

The wedding request

This is the part of the wedding invitation where the guest is formally invited to attend the wedding celebration. There are many ways of putting the message across. Some of which are

“cordially invite” or “joyfully invite” or “have great pleasure in inviting” or “would be delighted to have the presence of ”or “request the honour of your presence”

Out of these, the line ”cordially invite” is very common and popular on at least 8 out of ten wedding cards.

This would be followed by the space to write the name of the guests as Mr and Mrs with a long underscore dash as under at the end of which there might be a preprinted “& fly”

Some people may not print the “& fly” directly on the card and may use their discretion to write it as per their desire to invite a particular couple or the entire family. So if they want only the couple they would write only the names of those guests on the card without adding “& fly”. Or they may add it as per their wishes. Sometimes you may invite just a single person and the pre-printed “& fly” would therefore be meaningless.

Description of the event, date, time and venueAfter writing the names of the guests, you would then follow with the description of the event along with the date ,time and venue of the wedding ceremony and the reception. It would be something like

“ to share in our joy as we unite in the Holy sacrament of Matrimony On Friday, 11th May 2013 at Holy Spirit Church Margao at 4.30 pm and thereafter to celebrate and share in our joy at Clube harmonia , Margao at 7 pm”

There are many many ways in which you can make this descriptive statement. You may see different versions of it in another article somewhere on this website. However the main thing to note is that you need to specify everything very clearly. The church name and place, the time of the nuptials, the name and place of the wedding venue and the time of the wedding reception. Some people may write “sharp” as the time of the reception. This is as per individual choices and how good you may be in keeping up to that sharp timing of the wedding reception set out by yourselves.

Contact Addresses and RSVPBelow this on the left and right sides you would have the respective addresses of the bridal couple most often with their telephone numbers. In modern times some would even mention their email address right there. It would all look something like

There might also be a small line in between this saying” RSVP “ or “RSVP regrets only“. This means that in case you are unable to make to the wedding reception, the bridal couple would like to know. This would help them to know their guest list and they could plan for the wedding accordingly. Always ask your guests to RSVP so you know how many to expect. It may also be a good idea to include a date by which you would like such replies to be returned by so that you can make your final arrangements and confirm your final numbers which will help you with your caterer, your venue chairs requirements etc. So something like RSVP by 25thApril 2013 is a good idea.

FootnoteThere is another line often inserted right below the card. It is written in different ways. Some would simply write it as” No presents please”. Others might want to be a little more pleasant to re-phrase it as “ Presents in blessings only’. Some others quote it as “ your presence is our present”. Some would even say” gift us with your presence”. The whole intention of inserting this line is to inform your guests that you are not even subtly desirous of a present to be gifted to you. The motive is to make the event a hassle free event for the guests where the guest does not have to be anxious about shopping for a wedding gift and it takes away the worry of a gift as a prerequisite to attend the wedding . However that said, many people who may have a rather strong bond with the bridal couple might still get gifts which are normally accepted.

On some wedding cards, where the wedding venue maybe a new place or a difficult one to locate, the bridal couple may include a map of the area surrounding the venue to pinpoint the exact location of the venue. This is normally printed overleaf on the back side of the wedding card and can help people locate the place easily rather than seek directions all along the way.

Although there may be plenty of advancements in technology and communication, and though greeting cards for festive occasions may have seen a sharp decline over the years, the wedding invitation card on the other hand appears to be firmly rooted in its traditional ground and does not seem likely to lose its rightful place either to sms , mobile or email in the near future.